On Friday, October 11th, 2024, the Gregg Building Lofts at 52 Albert Street officially opened! Heritage Winnipeg’s President, Greg Agnew attended the event, hosted by the building owner Jay Knysh, which included good friends, delicious food, live entertainment, fun dancing and tours of the newly renovated building. It was a wonderful evening celebrating all the hard work that went into adaptively reusing the historic Gregg Building and further contributing to a vibrant Exchange District neighbourhood. The highlight of the event was tours of the rooftop, which offers fabulous views of many of the city’s beautiful heritage buildings and a chance to admire the custom murals by a local artist Cash Akoza. Heritage Winnipeg has worked hard with Knysh over the past few years to help see this project come to fruition and is thrilled with the results which honour the building’s history while allowing it to serve the modern community’s needs. Congratulations to Knysh for persevering through adversity and completing this wonderful project!

The Gregg Building was built in 1902 as a warehouse for George R. Gregg and Company, an importer of textiles and luxury goods from Asia. Designed by James Henry Cadham, the original Romanesque Revival style building was only four stories tall, with the fifth floor, designed by Frank Evans, added in 1922. Over time more business took up residence in the building, especially after the George R. Gregg and Company ended its operations in the 1950s. The building became protected from demolition or alteration of its character defining elements when it was added to the City of Winnipeg’s List of Historical Resources in 1986. Various business came and went at the Gregg Building over the years, with it sitting empty before it was purchased by Knysh in 2019. Working closely with Heritage Winnipeg, Knysh converting the building into 31 unique apartments featuring one, two and three bedrooms. Knysh’s dedication to seeing the project through while respecting the building’s heritage is admirable, as is his willingness to share the project with the community through events like Doors Open Winnipeg. Learn more about the history of the building and its conversion into the Gregg Building Lofts in our blog: A Diamond-in-the-Rough: the Passion-Driven Transformation of the Gregg Building.